Summer Slowdown

am I writing too much?

(detail from John Vanderlyn’s Panoramic View of the Palace and Gardens of Versailles)

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My Substack posts since January 1st include:

Les McCann and Eddie Harris, "Compared to What"
Jay Clayton sings Steve Reich and McCoy Tyner
Joan Acocella
Greetings from Steve Swallow
"Prisencolinensinainciusol,"Adriano Celentano's huge, hilarious hit
RIP P.D.Q. Bach
Hiroko Sakaki plays Debussy
Max Roach in 1958/1959
Elvin Jones on John Coltrane’s “India”
Four Bossa and a Shuffle
***Miharu Ogura -- Plays Ogura
It’s About Time
"The Waveries" by Fredric Brown
Jim Beard, Warren Bernhardt, and Richard Tee
Encores by Byron Janis and two American composers from Josef Hofmann
Maurizio Pollini and the End of Scarcity
***Jim Snidero, FOR ALL WE KNOW
The Sammy Maudlin Show, RIP Joe Flaherty
***Blaine Billingsley and John Fahey
Interview with Albert “Tootie” Heath
The Hidden Soul of Harmony
Henri Mancini and Marian McPartland
Seven MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE Movies and Two Frederick Forsyth Novels
Michael Cuscuna
"Inner Urge" by Joe Henderson w. piano by McCoy Tyner + Chick Corea
***Lina Allemano, CANONS + Manuele Morbidini
Peter Erskine on ECM records with Marc Johnson or Gary Peacock
Leonard Rosenman, Professional Composer
***Nicole Glover PLAYS + Kevin Sun THE FATE OF THE TENOR
David Sanborn on Phillip Wilson
ALLIGATOR, UNSTOPPABLE, and MORNING AFTER THE REVOLUTION
Early Enrico Rava on ECM (RIP Palle Danielsson)
***Timo Andres, Robert Carl, and Valerie Coleman
Wayne Shorter and Jane Ira Bloom

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When I look back that’s an awful lot of scribbling, and at least two people have recently suggested that I am actually turning off readers by constantly spamming their inbox. Also, I have several non-Substack things I need to do: practice the piano, address composition commissions, finish the Billy Hart memoir. (And, of course, there’s an argument that during the summer months, one should simply go outside and see nature as much as possible.)

So, no more spontaneous think pieces for a bit. The monthly forum will resume in the fall as well.

However, I am enjoying listening to new releases for a quick review, I’ll keep those up, doing one or two a month. (This is new, sort of a premium sponsored by paid subscribers, and marked with a triple asterisk *** above.)

Thanks to my readers and listeners.